The Mouth of the Sky – Spindles of snow fired by wind from far away slip across the road

It was the kind of morning where grey is what welcomes me after I realize that I am not going to see a sun rise. I could wait just a moment more in the hopes that it is not grey, but a soft predawn blue. But no. Soon there is enough light to see the wind whip the fine cold snow through the meadow, create small hurricanes and tornadoes, exit stage left, angrily, between the trees, and head east, but soon return to stir up even more trouble, trying to frighten the birds from the yard, startle the rabbits who are hunkered and fluffy against the fury. This fine powdery snow is all I need to know it is biting cold. This tempest soon gives way to lake effect and the constant thick stream of bigger flakes past the house. Perhaps it isn’t as cold, but I have steeled yourself against it to get to the car, and, once inside, care only about the front and rear defrost doing their job.

Out on the road, spindles of snow slip across my path, fired by a long wind from far away. In places the field seems to continue onto the road. The odd truck is in the ditch because it took a drift too quickly or not seriously enough, or didn’t see it. The small drifts pull at the car, trying to tug it to the side, like navigating a boat on a particularly wavy day.

Back home I notice the sky has opened up for a moment, and I grab my camera, not that everything else was not photo-worthy, but here the sky seems to be exposing its mouth, throat, and lungs, inhaling back into the space from where the strong wind has blown most of the day.

One thought on “The Mouth of the Sky – Spindles of snow fired by wind from far away slip across the road”

I love your pictures and how nature inspires you so! Hi Andrew. I am a friend of Heather Simpson on FB.. we were former neighbours on Summit Ave. Ottawa way ‘back in the day’. I remember your brother Charlie (vaguely) as a classmate @ Pleasant Park P.S. but I do indeed remember walking by your house on Thessaly Circle each day before entering the ‘woods’.

I love your writings & ramblings blog & sharing here!!

I believe you are inspiring me as I too have oodles of pics & many a journal & notes everywhere as I write down each cool or silly thought that enters my mind.. generally involving nature & how it speaks to me. Symbolism.. yes I see it everywhere in the cyclical nature of life itself.

You live on an island? Wolfe Island near Kingston perhaps? Just a guess. My parents used to own property there when they moved from Ottawa to Montreal to Kingston & are now retired in Hastings. I have 3 children closeby in Peterborough. Separated from their Dad in 1996 and moved to B.C…. feeling like the salmon that found its way magically “home”… to spawn by instinct. I have never felt so relaxed or inspired anywhere else on this planet..!! Home at last…

I love peach and blueberry pie (yes Ontario.. the smaller berries ARE more flavourful)! They are my faves & your noting them certainly caught my attention. The hummingbirds & owls as well. I lay awake in the middle of the night last night for an hour or so reflecting on MANY things and heard an owl hooting. This coincidence did not go unnoticed by me (smile).

I long to write something for children.. introduce a calendar with my pics or a journal for teens (so they don’t wander most of their lives like I feel I have).
I thank you so much for your sharing & the inspiration you have offered me..!